Across the
country students made their voices heard on March 14, one month after the
school shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school. They honored the 17 victims
with tearful moments of silence, they protested gun laws and pledged kindness
to their peers. Salt Lake County was no different as schools around the valley
participated with walkouts and “walk ups.”

Murray

“I’m scared at
school and I hear that from my friends as well,” said Academy of Math,
Engineering and Science junior Grace Wason. “I don’t think fear should be in a
place of learning.”

About 150
students, most wearing black in mourning, lined 1300 East near the Murray
school. They held signs showing each victim and chanted, “Books not bullets; no
more silence. We are change.”

During the
walkout, Grace recited names of each victim, then added: “These are only 17 of
the 75-plus students we are mourning today. We do this in solidarity not only
with lost victims, but also their mourning friends and families. This has gone
too far.”

Grace participated
in a routine school lockdown earlier in the week. “It was daunting,” she said. “I
was working on the posters and saw them on my desk as I hid in the corner and
thought, this is the exact thing those Florida students went through only they
had someone with a gun come in their door.”

Students, many
who planned to take part in the “March for Our Lives” rally at the Capitol
March 24, also signed up to vote as leaders organized voting registration as
well as planned to hold a letter-writing campaign to Congress.

Murray Board of
Education Vice President Kami Anderson said Murray School District allowed
students from Murray High, Hillcrest Junior High and Riverview Junior High the
opportunity to walkout.

“As a school
district, we wanted to facilitate the conversation between students and parents
about what the walkout means and why or why not participate and provide a safe
place for them,” she said. “We need to allow students to make the choices for
themselves.”

Murray High
student body president Kate Spackman said student government ushered the
student-organized walkout to the school plaza, which had about 250 students
participate.

“Some students
stood up and spoke out; we paid our respects to the victims,” Kate said. “I
felt the kids who walked out for the right reasons supported the victims and it
was awesome. For the kids who walked out to miss school, I hope they realize
what this is all about and the importance of it.”

Kate and other
student government leaders organized “17 days of kindness of positivity.”
Suggestions include to make a new friend, smile at 17 people, post a picture on
social media “NeverAgain” in support and write to Gov. Gary Herbert and the
legislature.

“We wanted to do
something that will make a difference immediately in kids’ lives,” she said.

Cottonwood Heights

Brighton student
government also will hold a kindness campaign to create a more welcoming
environment, said Principal Tom Sherwood after about 500 students participated
in the student-led walkout.

“I believe if
students want to make a statement about changes to protest future lives, they
have a right,” he said. “Students for generations have used civil disobedience
in the community or country to stand up for what they believe is not right —
and they still do.”

Students, who
gathered in the football stand, were silent for 17 minutes as the names of
victims were held up and read out loud. Student leaders also urged students to
use their voice — “we can’t let kids our age die in vain,” to vote and to write
to their representatives.

Afterward, two
juniors — Evelyn Compagno and Lilly Olpin — lingered.

“I’m so glad we
raised awareness for such a horrible thing,” said Evelyn, adding that she had
friends who survived the Las Vegas shooting. “Those kids were murdered for no
reason.”

The future of
the country is being impacted as well, Lilly said.

“You never know
the potential those children had. They could have been someone great, like the
next Isaac Newton,” she said.

Community
members and Jim and Bonnie Despain came with their signs supporting the
students.

Jim Despain, who
once hunted rabbits, said that he has wanted better gun control for years. Bonnie
is a retired Ridgecrest Elementary schoolteacher and remembers faculty
discussing the best course of action after the Columbine and Sandy Hook
shootings.

“It’s taking the
kids across the nation to say enough and get the movement going on this,” she
said.

Utah State Rep.
Marie Poulson, who taught English in the south end of the valley, agreed and
supported students who participated.

“I’m so proud of
the courage, how they came out and spoke up,” she said. “It’s taking our young
people’s activism to come out to remind us to look at it and make changes. Kids
should have the right to feel safe at school.”

Poulson said she
recalled how the Columbine shooting terrorized both students and teachers and
puzzled them about what they could do to make schools safer. Since then, she
said phones and panic buttons have been installed in classrooms.

“And we’re still
discussing it now, but I’m hoping these students caught the attention of other
officials and have embarrassed them to do more,” Poulson said. “We don’t want
schools to become an armed camp, but we want our students to be safe. We’ve
called a school safety commission and if they can find a way to make a
difference, we’ll call a special session (at the legislature) and I hope they
do.”

Sugar House

Students from
Highland High School and the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts congregated
on the Highland football field where they linked arms and sang the Highland
school song. Highland principal Chris Jenson estimated they had 1,200 students
walk out.

“The kids that
did walk out, it was really nice to see them make a peaceful statement,” Jenson
said.

Ermiya Fanaeian organized
the student protest—which also included voter registration booths—at Highland
having grown tired of the mass shootings that have transpired over the last
decade.

“I am sick and
tired of American schools being the new American battleground,” she said,
adding the protest serves as a “call to action” for Congress and state
legislators to limit access to weapons that put student safety at risk.

“It is important
that we express our dissent, it is important that we stay pugnacious to the
change that we want to expedite.”

Kearns

Kearns Jr. High
focused its energies on what principal Scott Bell hoped would be a “positive
direction” rather than getting into the political aspect.

The school’s
“walk up” concentrated its attention on supporting school kindness and safety,
standing united against school violence and honoring the 17 Parkland shooting
victims.

“My hope was
there would be a uniting activity for us as a school and I think it exceeded my
hopes. It really turned out just awesome,” Bell said.

Before exiting
the school, a student-made video was played with students requesting
those watching to stand against school violence and pledge to do 17 acts of
kindness. On the lawn outside, students and faculty held a moment of silence
for two minutes, 14 seconds (the date of the tragedy 2/14).

Once students
returned to class they were given a KJH Cares card with 14 suggested acts of
kindness and three blank lines for them to come up their own ideas.

“We're giving a
challenge to our students over the next month to do 17 acts of kindness for others
and to use the #KJHCares to share their acts of kindness on social media,” Bell
said.

Bell was
impressed with his students saying they struck the right tone of respect and
solemnity.

“One thing I
didn’t count on was the level of emotion it had for some students,” he said. “We
had some of our students and staff be a little emotional about it. There was a
real connection with what we were doing.”

Holladay

At Churchill Jr.
High, Principal Josh LeRoy estimated that 80 percent of the student body joined
the nationwide walkout.

The
administration took a hands-off approach to the demonstration, letting student
leaders organize it themselves. They did notify the PTSA so that parents were
aware of the walkout, many of whom attended to show solidarity for their
children.

The students
formed a large circle and had a moment of silence to honor the victims of
recent school shootings. Afterward, some of the student organizers spoke
through a megaphone about the need for more gun control and more kindness
between students, noting that many of those who carry out school shootings were
previously victims of bullying.

One of those
students, Lydia Timms, said that the opinion and activism of students across
the country shouldn’t be discounted just because of their age. “Just because
we’re young doesn’t mean that we can’t be patriotic,” she said.

Following the
demonstration, the majority of students promptly walked back into the building
to return to class.

LeRoy said he
was impressed with the behavior of the students throughout the demonstration.
“For most of these students, this was their first experience in civic
engagement so we wanted to make sure that it went well,” he said.

Eric Holley, one
of the parents who attended, said that he thought it was a valuable experience
for his daughter. “Something like this works for these kids on their level,” he
said.

Midvale and South Jordan

While several
Canyons School District schools had student walkouts, Midvale Middle students
not only participated March 14, but also on Feb. 23 when 400 students
participated in a spontaneous demonstration, said spokesman Jeff Haney, who
added as long as students returned to class after the walkout, they were not
marked tardy or absent.

Jordan School
District spokeswoman Sandra Riesgraf said that students who walked out were
asked to check out, but they were marked truant, according to district policy.

“It doesn’t stay
on their record,” she said, adding that they could make it up with an hour of
homework time. “Some didn’t check out because they thought it best expressed
their civil disobedience. We just want to know where our students are, for
their safety.”

At Bingham High,
where students also are participating in acts of kindness, Riesgraf said that
about 75 students lead a peaceful and respectful walkout by the street.

“We fully
support students exercising their free speech and peaceful discussion,” she
said.